One of my readers, a former soldier stationed at Camp King from 1970 to 1972 and assigned to USTRANSCOM EUR Headquarters, wanted to know what happened to the horse farm/riding school adjacent to the northern end of Camp King.

The Siedlungshof, a.k.a. the Reichssiedlungshof in former times, was constructed in 1939.

Siedlungslehrhof Oberursel

It is still there, and as a matter of fact, a number of renovations and improvements have taken place over the years, especially when management changed hands in 2010.

On the other hand, Oberursel City plans more housing projects, and a much-discussed one is the one right next to the horse farm, which is the wide open space between the Mountain Lodge and the horse farm’s main buildings.

On 6 July 2018 though, it was decided to keep the new housing area smaller than the original design had called for. Instead of building 36 townhouses, the number was reduced to 23, among other concessions.

The final decision has to be made by the Siedlungsförderverein, the city of Oberursel, as well as the other current tenants of leased land.

One of my acquaintances was not able to sign up online for the German language proficiency test with the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt. At the end of each try, she was told that underage applicants could not register.

A short phone call to the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt clarified this issue. Here is what you have to do:

What connection do the Oberstedten/Oberursel Shooting Range Club (Schützenverein) and our current Tax and Revenue Office in Bad Homburg have in common? There is one, and it will take us back to WWII.

First, there is this sign at the corner of the road ‘Im Rosengärtchen’ and ‘Forsthausweg’ with that particular Schießstand located at Forsthausweg 9 (towards the animal shelter). This Schießstand is only about a three-minute walk away from the main road. I must have passed this many times without knowing it.

The sign reminded me of the Schützenvereinfest (shooting club fest), located further into the forest towards Oberstedten, which we went to on Christ Ascension Day, a public holiday, which also happens to be Father’s Day in Germany. We go there every year.

On that day, the Schützenverein serve homemade salads, the young ones are behind the grill, occasionally they have a band playing, and the elderly ladies run the cake stand in the back of the club.

Two weeks ago, we were there again with our French family in town. It was interesting to see no indication whatsoever of its club purpose at their fest. Just beer on the table, happy people on benches, the smell of barbecued Bratwurst, and kids running around.

When the club manager heard, we had brought Parisians to this little fest, he came out to share a bit more about this place.

This shooting range was used for training by soldiers stationed in Bad Homburg during WWII. They’d walk from Bad Homburg through the village of Oberstedten to get to the shooting range. Their military barracks were located what is now the Tax and Revenue Office (Finanzamt) on the Kaiser-Friedrich-Promenade.

Well, major renovations at the Tax and Revenue Office have been underway since January 2016, and so it has temporarily moved to Norsk-Data-Straße 1, in Ober-Eschbach. The restoration should be completed by late 2017. Add at least another six months, since after all, this is Germany, where any form of construction generally takes longer.

Yesterday, Germany’s high court ruled that bank charges (Bearbeitungsgebühren) for consumer credits are illegal and may be claimed back from banks if not older than ten years (since 2004). So if you had arranged such a consumer credit (e.g. to purchase a car or an apartment) between 2004 and now, please check your credit contract and if the bank charged you a handling fee/service fee. If so, you may claim it back.

For consumer credits dated 2004, the deadline is by the end of 2014.

In May of this year, a similar ruling determined that banks had to pay back three billion euro in now illegally charged fees. With yesterdays ruling, detailing the beginning time of the credit, when the bank charge was applied, and many other details, the additional payback amounts to another seven billion euro.

Check your contract carefully to see if the charge was applied at the beginning (one-time payment), distributed over the monthly payments, or charged as a one-time payment at the end. If the time of your credit payment fee matches the new court ruling time frame, send your letter to the bank.